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US: Allergan to shed two drugs for AbbVie deal

By  |  August 7, 2019

Allergan has confirmed that it will divest experimental inflammatory bowel disease therapy brazikumab and marketed drug Zenpep ahead of its US$63 billion acquisition by AbbVie.

Allergan announced it had decided to divest brazikumab and Zenpep—a treatment for pancreatic lipase deficiency—regardless of whether getting rid of them is required for clearance of the AbbVie takeover by antitrust regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Allergan Chief Executive Brent Saunders said the company achieved “steady growth” in the second quarter, driven once again by wrinkle treatments Botox and Juvederm, up 4% to US$974 million and 11% to US$323 million, respectively. There was also a strong contribution from antipsychotic drug Vraylar (cariprazine) which grew 72% to US$196 million.

The deal, worth about US$80 billion including debt, is the second this year that would knit together two of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies. Earlier this year, Bristol-Myers Squibb agreed to pay US$74 billion for rival cancer drugmaker Celgene.

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